What Do You Need
by Soss
Summary: A crimescene mishaps leads to complicated days. 'Why do you keep kissing me?.'... Fin! [Kibbs]
1. Love Lies Bleeding in My Hands

--- 1 ---

It happened so fast— too fast. The swift string of events that mounted to this singular, hanging moment in time was so quick, the years of her training instantaneously, momentarily, turned to fuzz on her brain. _The house was clear_, her mind screamed; they _cleared_ this house. She cleared this house. She knows she did, because she distinctly remembers shouting her go-ahead down the hall; her voice echoing off the barren walls; her consent reaching and drawing in her partners as their weapons slid down in a fluid motion, held lax at their sides.

_"Clear!"_ Kate's mind echoed and spitefully taunted her memory as she stood for the briefest of seconds, wondering who this man in black was; but more importantly, curiously wondering why a gun was being pointed in her general direction as she stared across the room, down the barrel of a dark Smith and Wesson.

It happened so fast. _"Kate! DOWN!"_ She recovered her professionally conscious momentum a split second too late as she felt a massive weight knock her down from the side, sending her barreling to the floor in a heap of limbs and blind confusion. She heard three succinct rounds of gunfire before her body made solid contact with the hard and unyielding wood floor.

As the shock steadily dissipated from her blurry awareness, Kate's sense of smell was the first perception to return: the thick and heavy scent of sawdust and black coffee overwhelmed and surrounded her, pinning her to the ground with an oppressive strength. The wind that was hastily knocked from her lungs began to slowly return as she recognized the scattering of feet about her.

"Gibbs.." she exhaled, waiting for him to answer: telling her to be still or to wait another minute, or to roll himself off of her with a distinct clearing of his throat. No movement, and no answer. ".._Gibbs_.." she spoke to him with more emphasis and a tinge of concern outlining her colored tone. She huffed and exhaled underneath his heavy weight, wriggling and turning over onto her back beneath him as to give her enough leverage to roll him off of her. _Great_, she internally mumbled, _he went and got himself knocked out._

It was then that Kate felt a strange warmth seeping into her clothing and pooling gently around them. She swiftly scrambled out from under him.

"Gibbs?" Her breathing escalated as did the beats of her throttled heart; but she was determined to keep her mind clear. She wouldn't panic. not again. She turned him over slowly and saw his unconscious grimace of pain, along with the darkening wound that marred and pooled about his lower abdomen. Her breath hitched sharply in her chest, unable to gasp but capable enough to mutter a single whispered expletive of disbelief. In all the commotion, no one noticed. _It happened so fast.._ her head echoed patiently. No one even noticed.

"DINOZZO." Was that her strangled voice, choking, cracking and pleading.. she could hear the other agent in the next room, working over one of the local officers. Kate kept her hands firm and solid against Gibbs' stomach, as if she alone was holding in and keeping together the very life that sought to spill and soak through her tiny hands. It was her sole purpose in life right then.

Kate harshly cried out for her partner: "TONY, _NOW_!"

Tony poked his head around the corner of the doorframe, his eyes going wide with a guilty, disbelieving, and mutually felt feeling of "_Oh _**_sh.t_**." Satisfied that Tony got the message, very loud and very clear, she turned her focus down to the unmoving form that she knelt beside.

She looked him over and noticed more blood vandalizing his right pant leg, soaking through and wrapping around his knee. Her mind was saturated in the brusque, stark redness as she swallowed hard and looked to his face. Continually pressing her white-knuckled, shaky hands against the wound of his stomach, Kate leaned down, her chocolate hair brushing lightly against his face. She whispered forcefully by his ear as she noticed his breathing becoming more and more labored: "Don't do this, Gibbs... _don't_ you do this..."

She allowed herself a fleeting second to close her eyes and regain her focus and self-control with a silent, earnest prayer. She nervously wet her lips before she was about to pull away from his face.

"_You okay_…" She barely even heard his voice, low and hoarse; as if it took everything within him to form those three concerned syllables. His eyes were still closed, but she noticed him swallow visibly, swallow down the pain and the unbearable lump that harbored in his throat.

She kept her tone strong, not wanting to alarm him any further than she imagined he already was, but no amount of confidence, no amount of training or poise in the world could have kept the slight shake from her voice. "I'm- I'm okay…" He grunted softly as she subconsciously pressed a little harder on his stomach as she replied. She saw the lines in his face become less distinct as she realized he was drifting.

"Gibbs… **_Gibbs_**.." her voice rang and echoed through the room, but was unable to rouse him.

The short words traveled and ricocheted through her mind, reverberating and bouncing off her walls with cutting malice as she sat numbly in the dark, hard plastic chair of the hospital waiting room. She didn't get the chance to wash the blood from her hands or the stains from her clothes. She didn't notice, and if she did, she wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have gave a damn. Kate looked down to her hands and put together the regrettable and unfortunate pun of _blood on her hands_. Her eyes picked up and gently focused on the swinging white doors that would eventually produce the answer to all their questions. It was a dice toss on whether they'd be sighing breaths of relief, or mourning in a huddled collective that was their little family.

Kate had her head bowed, glancing down and over at each of her colleagues' shoes, unable to interact much more than that. She felt the edgy vibrations from Abby's nervously bouncing leg; she heard the quiet murmuring of Ducky reassuring Tony and McGee with a somehow-related story from the distant past.

She sat simply, letting the quiet echoes of her conscience taunt, murder, and drown her with seething guilt as her heart constricted rapidly with choking and overwhelming concern.


	2. Middle of the Road

_A/N: Love the reviews; love writing for you; love it if you enjoy :) Read on, my dears :D  
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--- 2 ---

The wave of nausea that had been continually radiating like a siren through her system finally passed and calmed with the retreating footsteps of the doctor in the starch white coat. Part of her couldn't understand how this person, who very well had been elbow-deep-in-Gibbs, could be so pristine, while the colossal stains on her clothes were already setting in all of their stubborn, gruesome glory. At some point she had managed to blindly tear herself away from the waiting room to wash her hands— at Tony's request. It had been "freaking him out."

Gibbs was out of surgery and resting comfortably. Kate remembered scoffing at the doctor's emphasis of 'comfortable;' surely there was nothing _comfortable_ about recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.

_'…Well, unless by 'comfortable,' you actually mean 'medicated beyond comprehension.' '_ Tony and Ducky had bowed their heads in mild amusement at her snarky remark, but were largely relieved at their friend's improved prognosis.

It had been a long night, a long surgery, and a long tour of radical emotions. Ducky had finally convinced his fellow colleagues-in-waiting to go home: _"…rest easy, knowing that Jethro will make a full recovery… and will be seeing to your grueling workload soon enough."_

He had convinced everyone but Kate. She stood behind with the good doctor, watching the others sluggishly file from the waiting room. All she had to do was look over to Ducky without so much as a single word, and he nodded slowly.

_"I thought as much,"_ he had whispered before laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. _"Do try to get some rest, my dear, if you absolutely _**_insist_**_ upon staying."_

She nodded, _"I do."_ He nodded once more in return and patted her arm, following the others in suit. Before he had reached the outer most limits of the waiting room, he had turned back to her and spoke frankly, while the automatic glass doors began to swoosh closed: _"It's not your fault, Caitlin."_

_"I know."_ She lied coolly.

It was this particular course of surreal events that had led her here. Sitting alone in Gibbs' private hospital room, one leg curled underneath her on a barely-there cushioned chair, biting softly at a single thumbnail, listening to the steady rhythm of the multiple monitors that haphazardly encompassed his bed.

When the night nurse finally realized that Kate had absolutely no intention of leaving, she took a compassionate amount of pity on the visibly shaken agent: leaving her to stay with Gibbs for the remainder of the early morning hours. Kate watched him. He slept. She felt better being able to see him in one solid piece rather than having to visualize him as she sat deserted in the waiting room; but no matter how much better she felt, it didn't erase the wounds she knew lay underneath the bed sheets. Against her own conscious wishes, she drifted into a brief fit of dreamless sleep.  
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Kate woke to the distinct feeling of watchful eyes. Her chin was propped gently in an open palm with her elbow supported uncomfortably on the wooden arm rest, she slowly opened her eyes. Finding Gibbs staring softly at her from the bed, Kate shifted self-consciously in her chair, slowly removing herself from her cramped, make-shift sleeping position as she placed both feet on the floor.

"How are you feeling?" she croaked groggily, brushing her fingers underneath her eyes with a lazy swipe. She pushed back her dark muss of hair away from her face, waking up little by little.

"Well," he murmured slowly, she could hear the slight remnants of the pain medication in his voice, "I got shot. _Twice_." He said matter-of-factly before mumbling crossly: "And they won't give me coffee."

Kate's mouth twitched and smirked with a mind of its very own. "Fascists…" she chimed in a whisper with an air of mild amusement. He smiled gently at her before dropping his eyes down to his hands with an exhale.

"You should go home, Kate. Get some real sleep." He gruffed lightly, his voice still thick and coated with a groggy, medicinal haze, but it was slowly returning to non-Morphine-Gibbs. She looked at him thoughtfully before her eyes, too, dropped to her hands. She opened her mouth to speak and he looked to her expectantly.

"Gibbs, I—"

But she was quickly interrupted by a hospital attendant and the doctor that followed.

"Good morning, Agent Gibbs. I see visiting hours are off to an early start," the doctor, an older man with a sharp nose, gray hair, and with a few years on Ducky, quipped while he perused through Gibbs' chart at the foot of the bed. He mumbled slowly into the papers, "Must've missed that memo."

Kate was prepared for a lecture regarding hospital rules and professional policy, but was somewhat relieved when it didn't come.

"You're going to be fine, Agent Gibbs. The first GSW to your abdomen wasn't very serious, relatively speaking… more of an _annoyance_ to your system than anything else. It should prove to heal rather quickly." The doctor took off his reading glasses, hooking them carefully to the collar of his shirt as he set down his pen. "Your _knee_, on the other hand, is a different story."

Gibbs' hand reflexively hovered over his thigh, right above the offending knee which was already starting to break through with dull tinges of pain. "What about it." Gibbs asked shortly.

The doctor paused slightly before going on, as if choosing his words wisely, "The bullet lodged in a very precarious place within your knee.. While you're very lucky it didn't completely shatter your kneecap, the bullet did enough damage despite that luck of yours; it injured a great deal of cartilage—"

"What is it you're trying to say exactly," Gibbs irritably interrupted.

The doctor nodded slowly: "That it's going to take a while for your knee to completely heal."

Gibbs creased his forehead with growing irritation, looking to the doctor underneath heavy brows, "But it _will_ heal... completely." Gibbs asked with a subtle caution.

"Eventually," the doctor nodded.

Gibbs huffed quietly, his brow slowly softening as his gaze wandered over to Kate, who was staring vacantly at his wounded knee. He squinted his eyes slightly, and was close enough to reach his hand over to her without any trouble. Gibbs gently touched her forearm, bringing her out of her estranged reverie— she looked up to him, and he gave her a single, soft nod. Kate swallowed, understanding his "it's-alright-take-a-breath" stare, and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair.

"There's also the issue of your hospital stay, Agent Gibbs," the doctor continued; nodding with an explanation at the agent's confused expression, "If you remain here, my recommendation is a stay of 2 weeks."

"_No_," Gibbs shook his head adamantly, his mouth forming a firm line of stubborn resolution. "No, I don't need to stay here that long, I—"

"What if someone stayed with him?" Kate's voice cut through Gibbs' protest as she sat up in her seat, crossing her legs and steering her vision clear from the complex stare she felt radiating from Gibbs' general direction.

"That is.. a second option. If you were to be released into someone's custody… a relative, a friend… it would cut the hospital stay to about a week." The doctor looked from Kate and then to Gibbs' furrowed features. "There'd still be a good deal of rehabilitation, no matter where you stay, but I'm sure you'd be more comfortable elsewhere.. out of the hospital."

Kate rubbed her open palms against her thighs nervously before her confident professionalism again returned to her voice, "I'll stay with him."

The doctor nodded slowly, continuing to oscillate his gaze between the two agents: "Stairs will be a problem for you.. where ever you stay, it should preferably be single level. It would be easier for the both of you…"

Kate thought for a second and wet her lips, her eyes darting to Gibbs before they rested on the doctor, "Then _he'll_ stay with _me_." Gibbs began to say something, no doubt in protest, when Kate fully turned to him:

"There's no stairs in my apartment, Gibbs. Your entire _house_ is full of stairs... unless you were planning to sleep on the couch for a few weeks…" her eyes lingered, communicating the non-negotiable nature of the situation. It was stay in the hospital, or stay with her. She watched as the wheels turned gently in his head, almost pained that he had to think it over.

He finally gave her a slow, firm, and single nod. Kate exhaled her appreciation of him not causing a scene as she looked to the doctor, "When can he leave?"

"Four days." The doctor chimed as he hung Gibbs' chart back on the ledge of the foot of his bed. "I'll be back to check on you periodically, Agent Gibbs. Get some rest…"

As the doctor left, Kate wasn't facing Gibbs, but she slowly looked over to him from the corners of her eyes. He was watching her with a raised eyebrow, an expression that was somewhat skeptical of her actions. He would have no part of her pity, or her guilt.

"Don't start, Gibbs." She turned in her chair to face him, "Don't start."

Gibbs' creased brow vanished as both his eyebrows rose innocently, "I didn't say anything…"

She rose to her feet with one hand on her hip, "But you thought it.." He looked at her without a word, trying to silently gauge and break her hidden thoughts into pieces that he, himself, could see. Kate shifted uneasily under his unshakeable scrutiny as she snatched up her purse from the floor.

"I'm going to get some coffee." She stood by his bed and hesitantly reached over him to the other side of his bed, getting the nurse's call button for him. He grabbed her wrist softly, startling her. She looked down to his face with slightly widened, anxious eyes.

"Get me some." He whispered huskily, flexing his fingers over the soft skin of her wrist. At her raised eyebrow he added childishly with a subtle half-smile, lightening the air between them, "Please..?"

Kate removed herself from his grip and replaced her wrist with the call button, setting it gently into his open palm. She retreated from the bed and looked at him wistfully, her head tilted slightly to one side.

"I'll _think_ about it…" she murmured as she smoothed her hands over her pants and strode leisurely out the door.

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	3. The Chemicals Between Us

_A/N: As always, read and enjoy :)   
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--- 3 ---

The four days leading up to Gibbs' release went by without much incident. Kate began sneaking in coffee from the outside once Gibbs had tasted the hospital's version of the caffeinated stuff— he didn't know it was possible for coffee to taste so horrible, and not be served in an NCIS mug. He illustrated a seamless transition from asking, to begging, to threatening, and then bargaining with Kate— within a polished span of 30 seconds. She couldn't help but chuckle and briefly break apart at his unhealthy attachment to coffee, but she couldn't deny him either. If he could eat whole, solid meals and drink tea and ginger ale, she couldn't imagine a few cups of coffee flummoxing his system. She did make him beg a few times…

After a long and excruciating argument between Gibbs and the discharge nurse (Gibbs refusing any part of sitting his ass in a wheelchair, the nurse proclaiming it was absolute discharge policy), the nurse and attendant finally gave in as Gibbs walked (hobbled) out of the hospital on his own two feet… with crutches and a cautionary, guiding hand from Kate.

The drive to Kate's apartment was a silent one. She tried her best to engage him several times, but he was running on his grunt-and-single-syllable-response system. Kate gave up trying to talk to him for the rest of the ride, but snuck in her secret glances every now and then. He continued on in this way up until dinnertime— Kate was used to his generally quiet and brooding demeanor, but this was ridiculous.

When she had asked him what he wanted to drink with dinner, he responded with a low "Mmm." Kate pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek and raised her eyebrows in a fair amount of annoyance. Her patience wearing thin, she dropped the spoon she was using to dish out their Chinese food into the sink with a dull clatter. Kate stalked into the den where Gibbs sat on her couch, vaguely watching the news, but really just staring vacantly at the moving pictures.

She walked briskly over to the television and heatedly slapped at the power button, hearing the gentle click of the set powering down. Gibbs looked to her with a slight flicker of uncertainty gracing across his peaked eyebrows as she sat down on the coffee table in front of him. Kate, facing him, set herself in between his slightly opened legs, her knees brushing against the insides of his. She paid close attention to the bad leg that rested up on the coffee table beside her. She cocked her head to one side.

"Are you going to say more than one word to me at a time?" she asked calmly; her voice drifted gently in between them, steadily softening his confusion and maybe even his lines of communication. But he could clearly see the sparks of frustration in her eyes that her voice effortlessly belied.

Gibbs held onto her stare with ease. "_May_be.." he replied with a soft, sardonic emphasis; his voice took on the gravelly tone that marked the end of Kate's angry resolve.

She sighed during their brief staring match, her mouth vaguely spasming with an upturned frown of consideration; she set her elbow on one knee as her cheek fell defeated into her open palm. Her eyes gently roved over his quiet features with a subtle, undeniable interest while she tried to silently extract a multi-syllabic reply from his firm and stubborn mouth.

"Well," she interrupted their silence, raising her eyebrows and gently turning her eyes downcast, "I suppose an actual _word_ is better than a guttural _noise_." She pursed her lips and looked back up to his face. "I'll take it. For now." Her eyes shone gently as she reflexively, lightly ran her hand across his uninjured knee. She pretended not to notice his slight twitch of surprise.

"Now, what did you want to drink..?" She cast a look over her shoulder as she slowly retreated from the den.

He quietly cleared his throat of the bewilderment and unnerving, welcome reception of her proximity: "Just coffee, Kate."

She smiled at him. "Coffee with dinner... You know, I'm not even sure why I asked in the first place, Gibbs." He was brief witness to her smile becoming a fierce grin before she fully turned her back to him while disappearing into the kitchen. He let out an inaudible exhale as he sunk back into the couch, closing his eyes, and silently beating into his brain to not be such a _complete_ bastard.  
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With the coffee table littered with plates of half eaten Chinese food and empty take-out containers, they settled down in the neutral safety of watching the news together on the couch. As the 11 o'clock news drew to a close, Gibbs looked over to his unusually quiet companion and the corner of his mouth drew up softly.

Kate sat a leg's width away; her legs tucked underneath her with arms folded neatly across her chest; her head lying back against the couch cushion with her face tilted slightly towards him. He took a moment to fully appreciate her gentle, unconscious candidness. And he smiled.

Gibbs reached over a hand and softly pushed against her thigh. "Kate…" he whispered sleepily. When she stirred slightly, but didn't respond other than turning her head away from him and folding her arms tighter against her chest, he shook her leg with a bit more force; leaning over to her and slightly squeezing her thigh, "_Kate_."

Her eyes snapped open as she took a moment to focus on her surroundings. Realizing she was still on the couch, she looked over to Gibbs and exhaled, nodding and acknowledging him.

"Sorry.." she chuckled softly.

He nodded, "You should get some sleep…"

Kate gave him a lopsided smile. "You're sitting on my bed."

He furrowed his brow before making the connection; he shook his head: "You're not sleeping on the couch."

She lifted her eyebrows in quiet amusement. "And you are? I don't think so." She got up slowly and stretched her arms over her head. He pretended not to notice the soft skin that peeked beneath the slight rise of her shirt. He pretended not to notice that he noticed.

"C'mon." she said with a sigh, "Your things are in my room."

"You packed me a bag?" his voice lined with a color of incredulous appreciation.

She smiled. "You were planning on wearing some of my clothes?" Her smile suddenly dropped to a smirk accompanied by a raised eyebrow, "And don't even think about it… not in my bed."

Gibbs chuckled lightly and gently knit his brow with confusion. "Think about _what_?"

"Oh, _I_ **know** men..." she declared as she reached out her hand to help him off the couch, grabbing his crutches with the other hand, "..You all have this fascination with sleeping in the buff." She looked to him with a point of her index finger, "Not.. In my bed."

His eyes widened before he let out a deep chuckle, he took her hand and hoisted himself to stand on his good leg, briefly balancing with Kate's help as he guided the crutches underneath his arms.

"_Don't_ act like you don't know what I'm talking about..!" She roared quietly with a little laugh. She slowly led him down the hall to her bedroom.

"_You've_ been naked in your bed, haven't you?" He asked simply. Kate turned to look at him; seeing that impish glimmer in his eye, her mouth quirked.

"Yes." She murmured.

His smile broadened slightly, "Well then what's the difference?"

She opened her mouth as she smiled in disbelief, chuckling through her words: "It's _my_ bed!" She turned back to resume their slow trek to the bedroom when he clasped his fingers around her forearm.

"You have a _problem_ with me being in your bed, Agent Todd?" he gruffed lightly; she turned to look at him, somewhat taken aback. His tone was filled with stern authority, but his eyes shone with quiet mirth; even in the middle of their playful banter, he caught her off-guard. Kate wet her lips reflexively, noticing how much closer to him she actually stood, and faintly tilted her head.

Her eyebrows perked vaguely with her reply once she was capable of forming words: "No…" She carefully slid her arm from his fingers and continued on down the hall. He smirked and paused before following as closely as his crutches would allow.

She stopped him before he hobbled into the bedroom, her index finger poked to his chest. "That doesn't give you nude permission of any kind." She poked her finger into his chest with emphasis, "Got it?"

Gibbs tried to hide his growing grin as he nodded. She huffed, letting him enter the inner sanctuary of her bedroom.

"Do you, uh… need… you know, help?" Kate asked hesitantly, standing by the dresser as he went through the bag of clothes on the bed that she randomly packed for him. He was impressed at her unbeknowst knowledge of his most comfortable clothes. Gibbs looked over to her.

"Help?" he questioned.

"With…" she made several abstract hand motions. "Clothes… getting dressed or anything."

His smile returned as the corners of his eyes crinkled softly, "Was that a proposition?"

"No..! I just. Don't know your limitations or—"

He hung his head with a chuckle as he held out a hand to stop her nervous rant. "I think I can handle it, Kate."

She nodded slowly and clasped her hands in front of her. "Ok… Well," she grabbed a few articles of her own clothing before turning back to him, "there's a bathroom right through there," she motioned towards the door next to the closet. She stood motionless for a minute before he nodded.

"Okay…" he said slowly. He smirked faintly, "I can take it from here, Kate."

She nodded quickly and walked over to him. "Just call.. if you need anything," she paused for a second and looked up to him, "Anything, Gibbs." She exhaled as if she really wanted to say something more, before heading towards the door.

Kate faced him again once she reached the hallway, "Gibbs?"

"Yeah, Kate.." he spoke gruffly, not immediately picking up his head to look at her.

Her mouth quirked in consideration before speaking: "I'm glad you're okay.." She nodded and looked down, away from him, then heading back down the hall before he had a chance to respond. He sighed to no one as he unpacked a grey t-shirt and a pair of boxers.

"Me, too, Katie…" he murmured quietly, "..me too."

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	4. King of Pain

--- 4 ---

Around 2am, Kate finally received the mental go-ahead to drift to sleep; too tired to strain her ears any longer for the slight indication of Gibbs in distress. She had gotten up several times to check on him, her devoted curiosity getting the best of her each time: she'd walk carefully on the balls of her feet, tip-toeing each step as she was certain her creaky floorboards would just about wake the dead. But each time she reached the end of the hall and poked her head into the room, he was always sleeping soundly. If she hadn't known better, she might have said he looked 'peaceful,' but she just smirked at the very thought of it.

It was an understatement to say she was startled when a muted cry of pain echoed down the hall, violently shaking her from her dreamy limbo and dropping her onto the floor in a pile of limbs, pillows, and blankets. Kate was halfway down the hall in a second when she heard Gibbs' heavy breathing and muttered curses. She stood in the doorway, her tousled hair framing her face as she held out her arms, holding onto the doorframe. Her breaths came in a slower rhythm once she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs hanging off the side.

"Gibbs?" she whispered in a breathy tone of concern, her feet padding quickly and quietly against the hardwood floor as she made her way over to him. Her eyes wandered over his silent form, noticing him clutching one hand to his knee, his head hung low in a vain effort to curb the pain.

She gracefully crouched down in front of him, her hands resting on the bed on either side of his thighs as she looked up to his previously hidden face. When he still didn't say anything, she spoke softly as she set her own careful hand on his good knee:

"Gibbs…"

"I forgot…" his voice came out in a rough, strained hiss that originated from a rumble in his gut; she saw his eyes shut even tighter. He swallowed and exhaled deeply when he tentatively rubbed the area above his knee. Gibbs finally opened his eyes, gazing down at her.

"I got up.. I got up and I forgot." he said, low and hoarse. Kate's eyes widened just a bit.

"You put your weight on it?" She asked softly in amazement, looking down to his knee before she returned her eyes back to his. He nodded with a defeated sigh. She wet her lips and looked back down to the ace bandage that wound around his leg, "Do you think you tore anything? The stitches…?"

He chuckled roughly, quietly. "I don't know, Kate. All I know is.. it just hurts like a sonuvabitch.."

Kate grimaced in pained sympathy as she nodded and looked over to the bathroom. "C'mon," she said as she stood up, "...should change your bandages anyway."

As Gibbs took a minute to stand, to balance on one leg, he looked around for his crutches when Kate stepped into him gently, wrapping an arm around his waist and maneuvering as his flesh and blood crutch. He looked down to her with the tiniest of thankful smiles. Kate smiled softly back before looking down to the ground; her stomach clenched when she felt his arm come down around her shoulders, using her for the much needed support. But she felt Gibbs squeeze her next to him, just a little, as they hobbled slowly to the bathroom.

Kate sat him down on the closed toilet seat, as she squatted down in front of him again, gently undoing the ace wrap and setting it in a neat bundle on the sink counter. Gibbs watched her intently: studying the smooth tenderness of her features; the untamed muss of hair that delicately flounced around her shoulders and periodically dipped in front of her eyes; the soft curves that lithely danced and deftly moved in front of him as she went about the bathroom gathering her make-shift medical kit. It was then that he finally noticed the very short shorts that just about covered her backside in a clean strip of satin, coupled with the mid-drift baring tank that hugged her gently in all the right places.

He tried to shake away the mental contents of his studies when she crouched down in front of him yet again, lining up everything she needed along the edge of the tub. She sighed and cocked her head as she examined the stitches in his leg with dubious concern, running and resting a gentle hand behind his knee. He swallowed deeply.

"Doesn't look like you did any damage, Gibbs…" she murmured thoughtfully; she looked up to him with warm eyes, faintly fluttering them unintentionally, "Except for that _bottle rocket_ of pain you experienced." Kate smiled softly which elicited her desired reaction: Gibbs' tender smile accompanied by a low, rough chuckle. He bobbed his head in agreement as his eyes dropped down to the slow workings of her hands, carefully gauzing and rewrapping the ace bandage around his knee.

"You know whatcher doin,' Todd…?" he asked in a playfully gruff tone. She looked up to him with an open smirk and a cocked eyebrow before looking back to his knee, slowly and methodically winding the ace wrap in gentle patterns around his leg.

"Well, see… the funny thing about being trained for a federal agency…" she looked up to him beneath a concentrating brow and wisps of hair, "is that they teach you _silly_ things.. like basic first-aid…" She closed the wrap with a couple fasteners and gently patted the sides of his calf with both hands. She looked up to him and smiled warmly. His mouth quirked slightly.

"Why are you doing this, Kate.." he asked somewhat quietly. She opened her mouth to protest, but she knew what he was after—he stopped her, continuing on in a hushed, gruff voice, "You don't owe me anything, Katie… you know that, don't you.."

She got up slowly and looked at him with some thought, sliding her hands to her hips.

"I _do_ owe you, Gibbs. But that's not why I'm doing it…" she said matter-of-factly, her soft voice dancing around him ever so slightly. She put out her hand to him, offering her assistance to help him up, and he cleared his throat:

"Could you get me the crutches?"

Kate took her hand back slowly, putting on a feigned smirk when he could see the true confusion on her face. "Don't trust me, Gibbs?"

He opened his mouth and smiled slightly, "I'd like to _take care of_ what I had initially _set out_ to take care of… before that," he paused briefly, " '_bottle rocket of pain._' "

She furrowed her brow and then raised them gently in acknowledgement. "Ohh." The corner of her mouth lifted gently as she bobbed her head, "One sec…"

Kate promptly returned with his crutches in hand and offered them to him, waiting until she was sure he was secure on his feet before she took her leave. Helping out with Gibbs' call of nature was not in her script; but she decided to wait around to make sure he had everything he needed.

Turning off the bathroom light and balancing carefully on the crutches, Gibbs made his way back into the bedroom. He stopped when his eyes passed across Kate's small, perfectly curled form on the opposite side of the bed— very much fast asleep. He took a moment and watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest, relishing once again in the sweet candidness. His reverie was swiftly broken when Kate breathed heavily, a muted snore catching in the back of her throat as she sighed and turned over, placing her back to him.

He smiled, ducking down his head in amusement as he quietly made his way to the other, far side of the bed. A bed which he surmised was certainly big enough for them both to share, respectfully. The bed lazily dipped beneath his weight as he made his way under the covers, also gently covering her with the loose and leftover blankets that she had set aside for him. With Kate on her side, facing him, he watched her thoughtfully while his eyelids drooped and his breathing evened out.

"G'night, Katie..." Gibbs murmured languidly before he slowly dropped into dreaming alongside of her.


	5. The Fake Out

_A/N: Oh my... how long has it been? I haven't forgotten about this story, trust me :) I do apologize for falling off the face of the Kibbs earth and out of the writing groove. Back on track? I hope so o.O Read and enjoy :)_

_---_

Shreds of sunlight snuck through the cracks in the blinds, softly streaking along the hardened grain of the hardwood floor. It wasn't the morning light that made Kate shift and turn, but the muted snoring that lazily came from her right. She rolled from her back and onto her side in a drowsy curiosity, opening her blurry eyes just enough to see Gibbs' face— up-close.

Her eyebrows rose and her eyes popped in surprise as her hand flew to her mouth, feeling it absolutely necessary to hold in her sudden shock at all costs. When Kate came to the hazed realization that Gibbs wasn't awake, _or_ rousing anytime soon, her hand faltered, sliding down from her mouth until only her fingertips grazed her lips. She scanned Gibbs' sleeping face and felt a peculiar urge to brush her fingers across his cheek— she wet her lips and kept herself in check as she remembered the past several days.

She rolled carefully away from Gibbs, sitting up and swinging her legs to the floor in one fluid motion. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand, she cautiously pushed herself up off the bed with the other as she padded quietly across the floor and into the bathroom. It was going to be a long morning— _whatever hell time it was_.

---

Before long, Kate had just about finished her morning routine; she had taken a shower, cleaned up the very little that happened to be a mess, made the appropriate colleague phone calls, and was about to start some semblance of breakfast when she realized it was a little late in the morning for Gibbs to be so awfully quiet.

Kate set down her dish towel and took swift and careful steps towards the bedroom— poking her head in once she got to the door, not wanting to catch him in a state where she'd have to profusely apologize for not knocking in her own apartment. She smirked before frowning, seeing that he was still laid out in a tangle of blankets. Looking to her watch –11 AM– Kate wondered when the last time was that Gibbs slept past 6am. She wondered if he ever did.

She wandered across the floor, anticipating her footsteps would be enough to wake him as she came alongside the bed. When Gibbs didn't even stir, let alone wake up, Kate cocked her head and debated whether or not to leave him. If he was voluntarily sleeping at this ridiculous length, then he must need it… Kate shook her head and closed her eyes— if Gibbs woke up an hour from now, she knew he'd relentlessly let her have it for not waking him.

Kate sighed and nudged the side of the mattress with her leg, "Gibbs…" she whispered hesitantly. She rocked against the bed a little harder as her voice got a little stronger: "**Gibbs**." When she didn't get so much as a mumble from him, she exhaled and looked around, spotting the empty cough medicine cap that she used to dole out his small amount of pain medication in the middle of the night.

"Guess you took the Percocet…" she mumbled softly to no one. Kate ran a steady hand through her hair as she let out another sigh, gazing around the room, wondering again whether she should just leave him, or try to gently shake him from a pain-killer haze.

She bit the bullet and leaned over him quickly, putting her face right above his, pausing for a moment as she calculated how best to approach the undesirable task of waking a drug-coated ex-marine. She opted for steadily rising volume and mild shaking.

Gibbs had found the middle of the bed sometime mid-morning, so Kate gained better leverage as she crawled up next to him, resting one hand on his far shoulder and the other on the pillow. She carefully pushed against his shoulder as she called for him, softly at first. Around the tenth or so try, she was pinching his upper arm and was just about yelling in his face. She growled lightly and gripped his bicep—she was determined now, if for nothing else, because he was just being so un-freaking-cooperative. He _would_ wake up, '_or so help me_…'

Kate leant down and took a deep breath to sustain another good-sized _yell-in-the-face_ before a hand reached up and covered her mouth. With her gasp successfully suppressed, Kate's eyes widened in surprise as she looked down to see Gibbs slowly open one eye and raise one eyebrow, looking up to her in saucy accusation.

Kate pried his hand from her mouth and exhaled in disbelief, "You were awake…"

"I wanted to see how far you'd go." He mumbled cheekily, a satisfied smirk slowly forming. "But I had enough of the yelling.." he sat up carefully while Kate softly grunted her lack of amusement. She climbed down from beside him, smoothing out her clothes and standing next to the bed.

"Hungry?" She asked after a minute of silence.

"You cooking…?" He gently raised an eyebrow of skepticism, subtly looking over her form.

She smiled and chuckled softly. "There's some leftover Chinese food if you don't trust me."

His mocking stare fell away to reveal an expression that Kate couldn't quite describe. Gibbs nodded and rubbed his face with both hands before running them through his hair, mumbling: "Anything you wanna do… I'm easy, Kate." He looked up to her when he said her name, noticing that she wasn't moving or waiting to say something snarky.

The sheets had pooled around his waist, leaving him bare-chested when he first sat up in bed to talk to her. He followed her line of sight down to the bandage that was securely medical-taped to his lower abdomen. He frowned slightly before ducking his head down in an attempt to catch her eyes.

"Kate..." He was only answered with her steady stare and a visible swallow. "_Hey_..!" he barked and raised his voice, not enough to make her jump but enough to grab her attention. It had done the trick— Kate's eyes fluttered as they shot up to his face. Gibbs nodded slowly with slightly widened eyes and raised eyebrows, the infamous "what the hell are you waiting for?" stare.

"Are you going to make some food or _what.._?" He mouthed off incredulously. Kate would have been taken aback by this, had she not seen the familiar twinkle of affirmation and encouragement in his eyes. She paused, looking to a vacant spot on the wall before looking back to his face.

"God, Gibbs... get a _grip_…" she huffed softly and placed a hand on her hip. She stood there for a moment, both of them having a silent stand-off of holding their best poker face until Kate's smirk got the best of her. The corner of her lips tugged upward as she turned away from him, striding out of the room with a distinctive purpose in her step: to put an end to all skeptical misgivings about her cooking. She smiled on down the hallway.


	6. Bedtime Songs

_A/N:whispers: sorry for the wait! Thanks for hangin' in there :) read and enjoy..._

--- 6 ---

By the end of Day 8, of what Abby had begun calling _Operation Recuperation_, Kate had long ago returned to sleeping on the sofa, without so much as a word between them regarding the one night exception of Kate's determined _couch-rules_. The insinuated rumor of Kate's poor cooking skills had also been successfully disposed of, much to Gibbs' surprise and grateful delight.

He had been the perfect patient, with a few snarky indiscretions that Kate chose to ignore, but by Day 14, the prisoner had begun to get restless...

Kate sat cross-legged next to Gibbs on the couch, her elbow against the arm of the sofa with her cheek lazily pressed into her palm. She watched as the channels on the television fluidly flashed across the screen in dizzying rapid fire, accompanied by the gently timed clicking of the remote in Gibbs' hand.

She looked from beneath a heavy brow of annoyance, oscillating from the TV to Gibbs, to the TV and back to Gibbs. She firmly pressed her lips together as the channels seemed to go by a little faster; she pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek before he seemed to settle on a channel… temporarily. Gibbs sighed and flipped down through 20-some-odd channels in a matter of second before Kate reached over and hastily snatched the remote from his startled hand. Still leaning towards him, she held the remote out of his reach, glaring at him with slightly widened eyes, deadpanning:

"I'm gonna start having seizures, Gibbs.."

His hands dropped down into his lap after he finally processed Kate's actions. Frowning and pausing for another moment, he reached around her for the remote with a grunt— giving up with a slight wince of pain when she got up from the couch. Gibbs slumped back down into the sofa cushions in childish defeat.

Recognizing the extent of his restlessness, Kate set the remote on top of the television as she turned to face him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She cocked her head at the sight of his downcast, melancholy face.

"You can't leave the apartment until you start physical therapy, Gibbs." Kate spoke in a soft but direct tone— she sighed when she saw him roll his eyes, "Or at least until you see a _doctor_..?" she said, mildly exasperated at his constant medical defiance. His physical therapy appointments had been scheduled to start the previous week, and he continued to cancel them when Kate wasn't watching. By the time Kate had managed to get the doctor's office back on the line, Gibbs' appointment had already been filled— every single time. It had steadily become a ridiculously incensed game of cat and mouse. Kate couldn't logically determine whether or not she was the cat.

His face was plastered with an expression of disbelief as Gibbs roared slightly: "I'm **recovering**... from _gun shot_ wounds!"

Kate pursed her lips and moved her hands to her hips, dipping one hip down and putting most of her weight on one foot in a stance of insolence. She opened her mouth to say something as Gibbs glared her into silence. She widened her eyes and scoffed as she shook her head, throwing up her hands and raising her voice, "You're not going to be doing _sprints and lunges_, Gibbs! _It's a freaking **consultation** for God's-sake_!"

He slowly folded his arms across his chest with a rough grumble, blankly looking down to his foot that rested on the coffee table. The scowl on his face gradually subsided into a look of careful consideration; the frown lines around his mouth eased a bit when he looked up to Kate, who stood silently in front of him, waiting for his uproar or his concession. Her expression had gone from stubborn agitation, to quiet concern— she took a step closer.

Gibbs held her stare and sighed, "A consultation?" Kate nodded softly as she took another step towards the couch, her arms falling down to her sides from their defensive posture across her chest. She slid next to him on the couch; never taking her eyes away from his face, she contemplated putting an innocent hand on his shoulder. She kept them securely in her lap. As Kate began to get lost in her mental list of Do's and Don'ts when it came to Gibbs, he bobbed his head in affirmation: silently agreeing to the physical therapy consultation.

Kate smiled and nodded in question, "Yeah…?"

Gibbs looked over to her, noticing that she was insufferably close. He shifted his eyes away from her momentarily before bringing them back up to her beautiful face. "Not today." He gruffly blurted out, running his hands nervously down his upper thighs to just above his knees. Kate shook her head in agreement:

"No, Gibbs... not today.." Her smile softly widened after he nodded and looked away from her, down to his hands that rested carefully on his knees. While normally the idea of Gibbs having a weakness theoretically frightened her, the candid vulnerability that washed across his face surged a certain amount of affection in Kate that she couldn't quite hold down. Her eyes darted around his head, neck, and shoulders as she closed the insignificant gap between them, quickly kissing his cheek before pressing a slow, chaste kiss to the side of his mouth.

The gears in Kate's head finally caught up to the gears in Kate's heart as her head realized what exactly she had just done. She straightened up and softly cleared her throat before Gibbs turned his upper body to face her. Wetting her lips as she tore herself from the couch and headed for the kitchen, she croaked softly, "I'll call the doctor in the morning." She took a second to look at him, half of her inwardly cringed at his look of pained confusion, while the other half of her gloated in her fantastic ability to catch him off-guard. She nodded, "I'll just … go start dinner." He silently stared at her retreating backside as she walked away from him and disappeared into the kitchen.  
----

Dinner was unsurprisingly silent. Neither one of them knew whether to be grateful or anxiously self-conscious. They continued a new game of cat and mouse, vigilantly sneaking glances at the other after every other mouthful of chicken parmesan in a vain attempt to psychologically assess the other— careful not to get caught, either. But eventually, they caught each other. Gibbs held Kate's stare, a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth, the fork still slightly between his lips; Kate gulped down the bite of chicken she had been chewing as she also held Gibbs' eyes, reaching for her ginger ale. She was the one to break the eye contact, looking down and taking a drink, flushing away the dry awkwardness she felt on the tip of her tongue.

Her fork dove back into the spaghetti left on her plate. "When's your birthday…" she asked suddenly before placing the fork between her lips. She looked up to him casually.

"Why?" he asked, rough but sincerely curious. He was glad that Kate was the one to break the silence—he was sure if it had been he, he would have, no doubt, said something stupid. He looked up to her from the dwindling amount of food on his plate, cocking his head slightly as if to see her better, deeper. Part of him wanted to see her squirm and fidget under his curious stare, but the other part of him knew that they had surpassed that portion of their relationship. ... _Relationship?_

Kate nodded as she looked back down to her food, idly pushing about pieces of breaded chicken. "Mine's next week… Abby's is next month. And I just realized…" she paused as she looked up to him thoughtfully, "I know everyone's birthday, but yours." She took another drink to occupy her fidgeting hands.

He returned her gaze considerately, lazily working over her words in his head before he nodded, looking back down to his last forkful of spaghetti. "Today." He chimed casually, as if it were the most obvious, natural answer in the world.

Kate's eyes widened slightly as her eyebrows perked up in an awe-filled surprise, a small piece of hair falling into her eyes. "Today… seriously?"

Gibbs vaguely bobbed his head with his face downcast, looking to her underneath his eyebrows. He reached over for her ginger ale, having finished his own drink, when Kate's fingers clasped around his wrist. Gibbs looked up to her with slightly raised eyebrows, mumbling as he finished chewing the last bite of his dinner, "What..?"

"_What_?" Kate asked in disbelief, "You weren't going to say anything?"

Gibbs turned the corners of his lips downward in honest consideration of her question; he shrugged, "I wasn't planning on it, no."

She didn't know whether to be hurt or amused. She filled her tone with the warm mirth that never failed to make his eyes smile. There was no reason to make him feel guilty on his birthday. Kate smiled lightly with raised eyebrows, "You were just going to let the day go by without saying anything… _anything_?"

Gibbs huffed a short chuckle, "What's the difference?"

"I... I would have gotten you something.. a card.. a—"

"A tie?" Gibbs interrupted her rambling thought as he mocked her with a wicked grin of amusement. Kate tried not to smirk too much as she cocked a single eyebrow.

"Maybe I wouldn't have yelled before, at you… so loud," she added.

He smiled. When she realized she still had a hold of his wrist, she gently pushed his hand away. A tiny, warm smile fluttered across her face as she propped her elbow on the kitchen table and plopped her chin into the palm of her hand, looking at him thoughtfully.

Gibbs looked to her after he finished her soda and set the can down. He furrowed his brow, "What?"

She smiled and got up from her chair and began to clear the table with one hand. On her way to the sink, Kate patted her hand on Gibbs' shoulder, squeezing gently. "Happy birthday, Gibbs."  
---

The rest of the night was variably uneventful. Kate didn't bring up the nagging audacity of Gibbs' birthday silence, figuring there must be a logical reason for it. She supposed she shouldn't bitch at him on his birthday. With the next day _not_ being his birthday, perhaps, she thought, she would nag to him then.

As their routine had formed, after the 11 o'clock news, it was off to their separate corners of the apartment. Kate had to help Gibbs less and less as he got well accustomed to maneuvering the crutches in just about any situation. But she helped him tonight. She turned down the blankets while he brushed his teeth and changed his clothes. She got him his medicine and made sure all of his books were within reach of the bed. He didn't say a word about her helping him. He smiled on the inside as they each simply nodded their Good Nights.  
---

Gibbs couldn't sleep. He lay in bed, wearily reading chapter after chapter ever since Kate had disappeared from the bedroom a couple hours earlier. There was something tugging at the corner of his brain that he couldn't set his finger on. He sighed as he turned another page.

There was a light knock on the slightly opened bedroom door. Gibbs looked up from the book, peering over his reading glasses.

Kate stood in the doorway, her hands behind her back, her chocolate hair falling down in loose curls over her shoulders. "I saw the light on…" she trailed softly.

"What's the matter, Kate?" Gibbs kept his glasses on, but placed the book down on the bed, sitting up completely and giving her his full attention.

"Well.. I just.." she started softly, shrugging and bringing her hands from behind her back. She sheltered a single cupcake with a lit candle cupped in the palms of her hands. Gibbs took off his reading glasses and tossed them onto the bed, he looked to her in an adorable sense of awe.

He nodded to the cupcake in her hand as she came along side the bed. "What's that…" he asked, soft and husky; unaware as to why they were whispering, but not caring much at all.

She perched herself on the edge of the bed, holding her offering between them. She nodded and looked to him, "I figured you should at least have some cake." Kate smiled softly at the gentle expression that graced his features, a Gibbs-expression that she rarely saw. The corner of his mouth tugged upwards as he looked to her.

"You gonna sing?" he chimed in amusement.

"What? Well I —"

"Well you _lit_ the candle.. Ya gotta _sing_…" he said decisively through grinning lips. His eyes twinkled with the tiny flame of the candle.

Kate began to protest but stopped and wet her lips in thought. She sighed, gently clearing her throat and closing her eyes. She softly sang the melody, opening her eyes in the middle of her song to see Gibbs' attention still intently focused upon her.

_Haaappy birthday to you.. Happy birthday to yoou… happy birthday dear Giibbss… haappy birthday, to yooou... _

She chuckled embarrassedly at the finish and held up the cupcake to Gibbs, patiently waiting for him to blow out the candle. Kate smiled broadly when he did. She took the candle from the frosting and tossed it into the wastebasket, placing the cupcake on the bedside table. She brazenly leaned over, cupping her hands along the firm lines of his jaw and pressed her warm lips against his cheek. The steady current of emotion that went between them did not go unnoticed by Gibbs, who pressed a kiss to her cheek in turn. He carefully gathered her small form into a warm, firm hug, gently pressing his cheek to hers and lowly murmuring softly into her hair: "Thanks, Kate..."

He felt her grin against the side of his face, her hands traveling up his back as she strengthened the embrace. "Anytime, Gibbs.." she whispered quietly, "Anytime."


	7. Chasing Cars

_A/N: Thank you for all the reviews.. they mean a lot and help me along ;) Now, without further ado, the completion of this particular story. Is it calling for a sequel? ;)..._

--- 7 ---

Kate lounged back against the arm of the sofa, her feet neatly tucked underneath her as she ran a small, loose piece of hair between her thumb and index finger. She normally didn't mind rainy days— but today went beyond rainy. It had slowly become cold, dark, and rather miserable outside. She vacantly focused her eyes on the tiny streams of rain that trickled and meandered down the large window pane in her living room.

Despite her dislike of the day's foul weather, Gibbs was expected at the doctor's office within the hour. She lifted her hips and maneuvered her body to unearth her legs from beneath her, stretching them out along the couch and flexing her calf muscles. As much as Kate tormented him about the severe necessity of Gibbs' seeing the doctor, part of her didn't want to take him. Taking him meant having a consultation. It meant getting the ball rolling on physical therapy. It meant Gibbs would be going home. She frowned at her misguided sense of logic. _Stop it… Gibbs needs to get better_, she chastised herself internally.

Kate sighed and dropped her face into her hands before slowly raking them back through her hair. Her face picked up when she heard the faint, melodic thuds of the crutches down the hallway. She swung her legs off the couch and stood as Gibbs entered the main room.

"Ready?" her voice was soft and excessively perky, but he didn't notice her vocal façade. He grumbled what Kate understood to be a "_yeah_," as he looked around the room.

A soft rumble came from the back of his throat as he spoke: "Listen, Kate.. about this appointment—"

"No. No, no, no. _**No**_. Don't even start, Gibbs." She snatched up her purse from the arm chair, digging through it for her car keys. Finally slinging the purse over her shoulder, she grabbed his coat and made a gesture for him to put down the crutches so he could put on the jacket. When he responded by looking to the coat and then looking up to her in silence, she shook his coat at him with sharp emphasis before she spoke with a throaty tone: "You're **going**."

He growled something to the effect of "_Oh for God's-sake, Kate_" and reached for his coat, hastily slipping his arms into the sleeves. With his jacket successfully in place, he held out his arms from his sides and raised his eyebrows, taking his "you _happy_ now?" stance. Kate smiled faintly and walked to the apartment door, patiently holding it open for him. He huffed loudly as he made his way past her.  
---

The weather grew worse as the wind picked up on the way to the doctor. The rain pounded dangerously against the windshield as Kate went fast enough to keep Gibbs' erratic backseat-driver-need-for-speed at bay, but slow enough not to crash and wreck the car. She looked over at him periodically, watching him for split seconds at a time as he watched the rain sliding against the passenger window.

Kate looked back to the road ahead, barely making out the lanes of traffic through the buckets of rain, squinting in narrowed concentration. She wet her lips unconsciously.

"Why don't you want this appointment, Gibbs..?" Despite the light and airy tone of her voice, when he turned his head to look at her, he could see that her voice did little to belie the concern and sincerity behind her question.

"Why do you keep kissing me?" He quickly mimicked her light tone.

"Why don't you want this appointment…" she immediately countered.

"Why do you keep kissing me…"

"I asked you first." She said as she looked over to him before diverting her attention back to the cars in front of her.

He stared at her for several beats before he, too, turned his focus to the cars ahead of them. A sedated silence enveloped the car as both of them retreated back into their heads. Gibbs leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of his chest and dropping his gaze down to the dashboard.

"I'm…" He started to speak, but his voice trailed off.

Kate peered at him and then back to the road, waiting for him. "You're... what, Gibbs?"

"I'm... scared." He mumbled reluctantly, just loud enough for Kate to hear him. When she didn't respond, he snuck a glance over to her, becoming unsure if she _had_ in fact heard him. She did. Kate alternated her gaze back and forth between Gibbs and the road. She didn't gasp, she didn't laugh, she didn't tell him he was being ridiculous. Everything he had mentally anticipated, so far hadn't happened. Gibbs waited for whatever it was Kate was about to throw to him— he was surprised when Kate slowed the car, pulling off to the side of the road.

Gibbs gradually became uncomfortable in the seconds of silence that tugged at his self-conscious mind. He watched as her fingers flexed and softly rubbed along the steering wheel.

"Why are you—what are you scared of, Gibbs?" her voice was soft and caring, breaking effortlessly into the silence that was beginning to overwhelm him. Like a soft stitch of mental velvet, she remarkably began to smooth his apprehension. She unbuckled her safety belt and turned in her seat to face him when he didn't readily answer. "Gibbs..?"

He swallowed as his voice became gruff, trying to aggressively mask his worry, "What if… I can't do it." He looked to her, dropping his voice a few decibels. "What happens to me then, Kate.."

Her lips parted slightly, letting out a shallow exhale as she looked at him thoughtfully, painfully. "Gibbs…"

"I can't **be** that guy, Kate… I can't be that _guy_ stuck at a _desk_ with a _cane_…" his slight roar seemed to echo.

She blinked a few times and considered his burst of emotion; processing the inner thoughts he had just preciously divulged to her. Kate reached across the gap between them and laid her hand over his, causing him to glance to her face. Her soft smile vaguely calmed the rough tide of hidden torment and fear that threatened to swell in leaps and bounds. He watched as a tiny portion of her tongue unconsciously peeked from between her lips, wetting them out of nervous habit while she regarded the words inside of her head before they leapt from her mouth.

"I kiss you.. because I'm afraid you'll be _able_ to do it." Her words were syrupy and cryptic, making his brow furrow in confusion. She bowed her head slightly, her hair falling around her face and creating a soft wall of russet brown that hid her eyes from him. She repeated her sentence softly, almost entirely to herself.

Gibbs gently grunted and extended his hand towards her, cupping her chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted her face to see her eyes. He silently requested an elaboration. She let out a breath through her nose as she looked to his mouth instead of his eyes.

"After a few more of these doctor visits, you can go home, Gibbs." She snuck her eyes back up to his. She murmured quietly with a slightly saddened emphasis: "You can go home."

His lips twitched as he briefly considered her words. "Don't you want me out of your hair?" he cocked his head when she didn't directly respond, "Ya can't have much of a social life with me around, Katie." His voice was deep and slightly amused as his lips tugged into a weak smirk.

She quickly bit back the words, "_You **are** my social life._" Her eyes dropped away from his face, breaking her silence, "Gibbs.."

He took his hand away from her chin as he cupped her face with his palms; leaning towards her, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Kate tightly shut her eyes in a vain attempt to rein in her emotionally trampled horses as a sense of rejection washed through her. She danced around the subject, but she knew he knew what she was driving at.

Before Kate could bring her hand up to his chest to softly push herself away, Gibbs pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, gently rubbing the rough pad of his thumb across her cheek. His warm mouth softly moved over hers, increasing the pressure against her lips as he grew bolder. Keeping her eyes closed, her eyebrows rose in a delight that thoroughly surprised her. Her hands rose up, resting on his forearms; she parted her lips slightly, appreciatively kissing his bottom lip with a delicate slowness.

They reluctantly parted, separating in a jaded haze that followed unexpected first kisses. Gibbs' hands fell from her cheeks down to the sides of her neck, delicately rubbing his thumbs against the soft skin behind her ears. Kate visibly swallowed.

"You don't have to be scared, Gibbs." She murmured slightly as her voice began to regain its normal strength.

His warm, gravelly tone and the words that spilled from his mouth made her smile:

"Neither do you."


End file.
